Starcraft (TBG) is a loving ode to one of the most highly celebrated PC games of all time which is still played competively today by professionals! The forth coming Starcraft 2 (wings of liberty) is the long waited 12 year sequal to this game.

 

When I said that this game is a loving ode to the video game, I truly meant it. This ins by far one of the most successful computer to board game implementation (no Super Mario Brothers the board game that is for sure).

 

FFG has done an excellant job in capturing the essense of the Starcraft/RTS feel, but wrapped in a beatifuly elegant set of mechanics chromed up with a most amazing set of components.

 

For those of you unfamiliar with Starcraft the video game. Google it and read the back ground on them game.

 

 

 

 

 

The 2 core mechanics to starcraft the board game:

 

This is the heart of the game. The order placement is a derivative of the games designers earlier game of A Game of Thrones. Each 'action' that you would take n starcraft is represented by an order token. Each round, every player places 4 orders, one at a time in round robin fashion on the planets on the board face down.  The beauty comes in that fact that if someone has already placed on order on that planet, you then get to place your order on top creating a 'stack'.

 

After placing all orders, players in the same fashion get to remove one of their exposed order (the top of a stack) and execute it.  The impact on this is that you must carefully plan your turns actions in reverse. Not only that, you have to worry about your opponents throwing an order of their own on top of your orders to affect the sequence of execution.  Buried orders cannot be executed! A brillant mechanic that drives the entire game place experience. 

 

These order include:

1) Move/attack

2) Build

3) Research (get more cards)

 

On top of this, each of these orders have a 'gold' version that provides an additional benefit on top of basic action. To obtain a 'gold' version of the order, you need to build an add-on to your base to allow you to select them. (i.e. a gold build saves you 1 resource and increases your build limit by 1).

 

 

One of the nice things about Starcraft is that its a card driven combat system which is fast and brutal to resolve. This system allows for tactical choices as to what attack cards you manage in your hands for the units that you have available on the board. 

 

Each attack card has a pair of numbers, attack and defense. One of your units if paired up with one of your opponents and combat is resolved simultaneously. If your attack exceeds their defense, they die and vice versa. Each of these attack cards will have a pair of units that they are valid for.  If you play an attack card that doesn't match the unit that you play it for, you will then be forced to use the minor attack/defense values printed on the card.

There are also support cards that will modify combat in some way that you can play as well. Some of these support cards are directly tied to specific supporting units and require them to be involved in the combat as well.

 

Each faction starts with a core combat deck. This can be expanded by research specific technology cards and adding them to your combat deck to be then drawn later. In this way during the course of the game you get to adjust the types of cards that you are using.

 

 

a) The resource collection system 

For each controlled area that procduces a resource, you can 'spend' a worker (like money) sending them to that resource location to then pay for any units, buildings or technologies that you might by. You start the game with a base number of workers which you can then expand. Very reminisent of the video game.

 

b) Modular board (Z-axis representation) with area limits

 

The game board consists of a series of planets that are laid out and connected by a series of x-y route-connectors which will create a 2-D Cartesian plane of planets. Now since space is 3-D, the last thing that players will lay are what are called z-axis connectors. These will connect any two planets from any where on the board to one another, adding the 3rd dimension to the game board.  Simple but brilliant and worth taking note of.

 

c) card driven game clock

 

Aside from the combat cards, Starcrafts game timer is a series of 'Event' cards. Each time a player can't play an order (b/c he has been blocked) he gets an event card. Each time a player plays a research order, they also get an event card. At the end of each game round after all orders are played, each player gets to play one of these event cards. The will offer bonuses to combat, bonus units or other strategic actions that will help the player in some form or another. There are 3 stages of cards, increasing in strength as the game advances. Once all the cards have run out the game ends and the player with the most victory points wins (unless a sudden death special victory condition is met first).

 

What is nice about this game timer is that a player that is close to winning can speed up the clock and advanced the game in some way to help them move towards a win. A slick two fold game mechanic.

 

 

 

Stunning. Spectacular. Amazing.

 

When you open the game for the first time, be prepared for A LOT of punching of counters.

 

The game includes:

1 Rulebook

180 Plastic Units

12 Planet Tiles

27 Normal Navigation Routes/ Z-axis Navigation Routes

1 Conquest Point Track / 6 Conquest Point Markers

6 Faction Sheets & 6 Reference Sheets

1 First Player Token

54 Order Tokens

36 Base Tokens

90 Worker Tokens

42 Transport Tokens

40 Building Tokens

38 Module Tokens

12 Starting Planet Tokens

20 Depletion Tokens

26 Resource Cards

108 Combat Cards

126 Technology Cards (22 for each Zerg Faction,20 for each Protoss Faction,21 for each Terran Faction)

70 Event Cards (25 Stage I,25 Stage II,20 Stage III)

 

All cards and tokens come with that characteristic FFG high linen finish. The minatures are simply amazing. Highly detailed and great representatives of the units that they reflect in the game. 

 

The only complaint that I have is that the resource cards are rather redundent. I know why they are required, my I suggest just simply placing your worker token on the planets directly. This gives a better feel as to where workers are which can be much more fun when it making attacks to go after workers.

 

The only downside to the components is that this a coffin box game that FFG is famous for. As such, all the playing pieces will arrive in a big plastic bag within the box and the flying stands for the 'air' units often will arrive broken. Thank god for That.  FFG's amazing customer service rep will promply send you replacement parts for your broken pieces :)

 

I use old MTG starter boxes to house faction cards and event cards. Planno boxes to store faction units and chits. Doing these two things will save IMMENSE amounts of time in game set up. Hand out a box, a player mat and then set up the galaxy and you are good to go. No monkeying around with baggies and other crap.As such, I give this 9.5/10. The -0.5 star for the lack of insert.

 

 

 

Each game round consists of an order planning phase, an order execution, a resolution phase (captured territories exchange hands and occupied bases are destroyed etc), event cards are played and finally a gain victory points for critical locations that they control and a victory condition check occurs. If the game hasn't ended, wash rinse repeat.

 

As mentioned previously, the planning phase is the heart of Starcraft. The game is won and lost here.  Its an interesting and elegant mechanic that represents the feel of the video game well. Not knowing truly what your opponents are going to do but with the opportunity to attempt to counter their actions with a 'real time' sort of sense.

 

This order system keeps player turns short and the pace of the game fast. Something that I appreciate. 

 

Each area on a planet either has a resource (gas of crystal) or is a critical location (which generate VP points at the end of each turn). These are what you are fighting for control of across the galaxy.

 

Each of the areas on a planet has a unit limit (max units that can be stored there). There will be no stockpiling and hording of units on key locations in this game unlike other wargames such as risk. When a player moblizes to attack another, they can bring as many units into combat as area limit allows + 2. THIS IS FANTASTIC! Starcraft truly favours the bold (and the attacker) which prevents a player from turtling! This game is all about the combat so bring it on!

 

Starcraft with its combat system has a low level of randomness. Even this low level of luck can be mitigated by players with the purchase of improved combat cards from the technology deck or simply by researching to replenish/search for needed combat cards to improve the odds of your units before a battle.  You will cycle through the small combat decks quickly in this game as you get to draw new combat cards when you attack as well as when you perform a research order.

 

What makes the game play in Starcraft so great is that there are 6 different factions, 2 for each of the races that each with their own unique twist on the rules. Each of the 3 races have multiple paths to victory for building units and there are so many units available that you never get to play with them all before the game ends, thus each game potentially will be very different as you experiment with different combinations of units. Like in the video game, you will need to 'tech-up' the 3 technology trees for each faction to obtain Tier 3 units at end of game. 

 

Terran are the easiest of factions to start with. Their racial bonus is an increased and capacity for combat cards as well as the ability to repair mechanized units with workers. Their 3 technology trees are infantry, mechanical units and air. Their biggest advantage is the best starting units. The marine is cheap and flexible being able to attack ground and air.

 

The protoss is the most expensive faction with the fewest number of units that they will being to bear.  Their racial bonus is an additional combat card draw when they are attacked. Their starting unit is the most expensive, but has the highest attack/defense value. This faction has the hardest hitting units aviable. Their three trees are ground, mechanical and air.

 

The Zerg, the weakest faction when it comes to units standing toe to toe. They make up for this in numbers and POWERFUL support units that have a plethora of nasty abilities. The zergling is their starting unit, the weakest of them all, but the one that you can buy the most of.  Zerg also have the highest build limit per faction, which is dictated by the number of types of buildings they have, not the number of support modules. This makes it easier to get their production numbers to bear earlier in the game. Also, after a round of combat, Zerg get to replenish a combat card for free. Their three technology trees are ground, support (queens and defilers) and air.

 

Each of the three races has a pair of factions that have different starting units plus a unique special 'sudden death' victory condition that if achived in stage III, immediately ends the game.  Thus each faction will have a different stratedy during place (this is extended in the brood war expansion, a must buy!).

 

Starcraft is a game that also scales well betwee 2 to 6 players. There are few games that play equally well with 2 or more players are Starcraft does (w/o any adjustments to the rules). 

 

 

 

 

 

High. This is a really fun game once everyone is on the same playing field of knowledge.

 

 

The game has a steep learning curve so don't expect your first game to be a great one. This one requires a second or third play to really get the hang of things.  You really have to go easy on newbs b/c being mopped during their first game will really turn someone off.  Place nice if you want to see them again!

 

After you get past this, the limitless combinations of units and factions combined with the modular board keeps each game of Starcraft fresh as you explore different strategies to win the game.

 

The only other issue is timid players slowing the game down. Thankfully Starcraft favours the bold and the attacking player always has a distinct advantage. 

 

 

 

What I love about Starcraft is that it reminds me of playing the Videa game, it gives me the same feel but at the pace of a board game. I get to judge what to do not a break neck pace where relexes are not what determines the outcome of the game. Its highly replayable with lots of deep strategic choices.  

 

I highly reccomend this game. The mechanics are elegent, well thought out and put together with high production value.